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Pardon me but I do not believe you speak for most Christians. Most Christians in America belong to churches and church-affiliations which preach literal interpretation of the Bible. I'm aware not all Christians are literalists; my good friend Craig is a non-literal Christian.
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I do not claim to speak for most Christians.
Good for your friend.
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So really you aren't being helpful. I'm asking a question as to how most American Christians, being literalists, can possibly justify these things. If you want to say something like "I don't take it literally, so I interpret it thus" or "I don't accept that part of the Bible" then say so please.
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Pardon me, but you did not give this sort of qualification to your question in previous posts.
If you want fundamentalist Christians to justify themselves, good luck. I think even serious attempts to justify their beliefs are against their beliefs.
Myself, I do not take the literature literally, nor do I accept all canon, and I accept some extra-canonical literature for my personal scripture. I also have no problem looking to other faith traditions for spiritual guidance. I am a Christian in that I find value in teachings attributed to Jesus. Some teachings attributed to him I think to be forgeries and nasty attempts to rule over the masses. I am even less attached to Old Testament literature, though, I can read through the stories and see the allegorical meaning and appreciate the stories for their content.